Fiber-cleaning machine.



No. 649 ,2|5. j Patented May 8, I900 y me; SARGENT. I

FQIBEB CLEANING MACHINE.

(Application filed. Oct. 25, 1899.)

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F. a. SARGENT.

FIBER CLEANING MACHENE.

(Application filed Oct. 25, 1899.)

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1 UN TED STATES 5 PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK o. SARGENT, or GBANITEVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FIBER-CLEANING MACHINE.-

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 649,215, dated May 8, 1960. Application filed October 25, 1899. Serial No- 734,'777. (No model.)

To all whom it may concerie: Be it known that I, FREDERICK G. SARGENT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Graniteville, in the county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fiber-Oleaning Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to machines for cleaning fiber, and especially wool. It will first be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the best embodiment that I have yet contrived, and afterward the distinguishing characteristics of the invention will be set forth in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of the machine. Fig, 2 is an end elevation of the same, and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section thereof on the plane that is indicated by the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows near the extremi ties of the said line.

1 1 are portions of the casing of the machine, within which are inclosed the moving parts.

2 is the main cylinder, which extends substantially throughout the length of the machine and is provided with a projecting shaft 3 and pulley 4:, by means of which it may be rotated from any convenient counter-shaft. In the drawings I have illustrated the main cylinder as of a conical form, which is a common form in fiber-cleaning machines. In such machines the fiber is introduced near the small end of the conical cylinder and is carried by centrifugal action to the large end, where it is discharged from the machine.

' During the passage of the fiber it is broken up by the action of stationary combs 20 20, projecting into the path of the teeth 21 of the main cylinder.

The feed-apron 6 and feed-rolls '7 will be understood without a more detailed description.

My invention is applicable not only in combination with a cylinder of conical form, but also with a cylinder having an equal diameter throughout its length and provided with spirally-arranged teeth on its periphery. This is another well-known form of cylinder. The

invention may also be used in connection with any other form of cylinder which is adapted to transfer the fiber fed upon one end there of continuously to the other end.

8 is a secondary cylinder which is arranged with its surface adjacent to that of the main cylinder 2 and which is given a motion of rotation by means of a pulley 9 on the end of its shaft, connected by a belt 10 to a countershaft. (Not shown.) Such motion of rotation may, however, be imparted by other suit able means. The said secondary cylinder is provided with teeth 11, preferably what are known as bur-teeth. Therotation of the secondary cylinder 8 is such with relation to that ofv the main cylinder 2 that the former takes off from the latter the fiber which is ro tating therewith and carries such fiber around in the direction that is indicated by the arrow adjacent to the periphery of the secondary cylinder.

12 is a guard which is preferably in the form of a rotating roll provided with fioats or teeth and situated adjacent to the secondary cylinder, but which may be in the form of a fixed blade or comb or the like, its purpose in either case being to remove from the fiber which is rotating on the secondary cylinder the projecting. foreign substances mingled therewith. In handling some varieties of stock, however, the action between the main and secondary cylinders is sufficient to reinove foreign substances therefrom without the use of the guard 12. The guard 12 is preferably located at an opening 13 in the easing 1, so that the foreign substances which are removed by the said guard from the fiber may fall outside the casing. At the same time the current of air which is caused to enter the machine through the said opening 13 by the action of the usual fan 14: will draw into the machine again whatever light particles. of fiber may have been removed by the guard 12 from the secondary cylinder 8.

The fiber which is rotating with the secondary cylinder, after passing the guard 12 and being somewhat cleaned by the action thereof, as just described, is further operated upon by a brush 15, which rot-ates with its periphery adjacent to that of the secondary cylinder 8 and at a higher surface speed than the latter. The motion of the brush is in the direction indicated by the arrow adjacent thereto. By the action of this brush the fiber is removed from the teeth of the secondary cylinder and is returned upon the main cylinder 2. The main cylinder 2 now carries the said fiber around again through nearlya revolution, when the fiber is once more removed by the secondary cylinder and is subjected to the action of the guard 12 and brush 15 and is by the latter returned once more upon the main cylinder. This operation will be seen to be a continuous one. The fiber, starting at the small end or feed end of the main cylinder, is carried around the main cylinder and thence to the secondary cylinder and back to the main cylinder, and so on, it being subjected alternately to the action of the main cylinder and to that of the secondary cylinder, guard, and brush, the fiber advancing during these operations through the machine toward the delivery end thereof. At any moment there is upon the periphery of the main cylinder a layer of fiber which at the feed end of the machine is lumpy and full of dirt, dust, and foreign substances and which is of increasing evenness and cleanness throughout the length of the cylinder until at the delivery end of the machine it is issuing without lumps and free from such dirt, dust, and foreign substances. Similarly the fiber which at any moment is being rotated upon thepcriphery of the secondary cylinder contains a great deal of foreign matter at and near the feed end of the machine and less and less foreign matter toward the delivery end of the machine, such foreign matter gradually Working to the surface of the fiber and being continuouslyremoved by successive portions of the guard 12. In like manner the sheet of fiber which at any moment is being delivered by the brush 15 from the secondary cylinder 8 to the main cylinder 1 is in a graduated state of cleanness and freedom from lumps. The heavier dirt which is removed from the fiber falls through a screen 16, extending beneath the main cylinder, into a dead-air space 17 beneath the said screen. The lighter particles of dust are drawn upward by the fan 14- and are discharged from the machine.

1. In a fiber-cleaning machine, a rotating main cylinder receiving the fiber upon one end thereof and constructed to cause the fiber to travel spirally around the same to the other end thereof, a rotating secondary cylinder extending longitudinally adjacent to the surface of the main cylinder to take the fiber from the latter, and a rotating brush extending longitudinally adjacent to the surface of the secondary cylinder to remove the fiber from the latter and return it to the main cylinder, whereby the fiber in its gradual passage from one end of the main cylinder to the other end thereof is subjected repeatedly and alternately to the action of the main cylinder and to that of the secondary cylinder and brush.

2. In a fiber=cleaning machine, a rotating main cylinder receiving the fiber upon one end thereof and constructed to cause the fiber to travel spirally around the same to the other end thereof, a rotating secondary cylinder extending longitudinally adjacent to the surface of the main cylinder to take the fiber from the latter, a guard extending longitudinall y adjacent to the surface of the secondary cylinder to remove projecting foreign substances from the fiber rotating thereon, and a rotating brush extending longitudinally adjacent to the surface of the secondary cylin der to remove the fiber from the latter and return it to the main cylinder, whereby the fiber in its gradual passage from one end of the main cylinder to the other end thereof is subjected repeatedly and alternately to the action of the main cylinder and to that of the secondary cylinder, guard, and brush.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK G. SARGENT.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR E. DAY, HERBERT V. lIILDnItTn. 

